Sins Of The World
by Justaperson1718
Summary: AU! Maybe..just maybe Pride could have done better. He wanted nothing but his Father to be proud of him...but...just how far would he go to achieve that goal? (Discontinued for now, sorry)
1. Chapter 1: There was the best of times

Disclaimer: I own no FMA, or I would be pretty happy

_**There was the best of times...**_

Pride was always a "good" little boy. He would always try his best to help his Father in every way possible. Even if it meant risking his life...  
...over and over again. But...Pride always wanted his Father to be proud of him, to be his joy...to be his _Pride_ and joy. But Father should have learned to set boundaries...Because Pride had a side project going. After all...what makes a parent more proud than when their _children _do better than _them_.

* * *

Lust was sitting boredly in Father's Lair, waiting...It was her turn to guard him as he slept, and it was unbearably boring. "If he has nearly all the power in the world, why would he even need to rest?" She asked no one in particular, believing she was alone.

"Because, even dear Father needs his rest, just as you or me would." an echoing voice answered her as Pride walked in from the sewer entrance. "However unfortunate a time he chooses..." Pride started, annoyance in his voice for finding out he came down here for nothing, "...Father does need his rest." He turned on his heels and began to leave, but was stopped by an extended finger nail poking his upper back.

"If you would like to leave a message..." she started dragging her now sharpened nail across the floor back to her, making a loud screeching sound. "...please leave it after the screech." She ended her sentence after her nail was back to her, a small smile plastered on her face for hope she might actually have something to look forward to. Pride hadn't moved, still annoyed she had invaded his personal space, an unseen scowl plastered on his face.

"Let him know we've yet, to begin working on the circle for the transmutation, our layout is still a little...patchy. We might need to go to the borders of Creta and Drachma, maybe even take a little of Aerugo too." He finished.

"I'll be sure to let him know then..." Lust assured him, and Pride made his way out. "...arrogant wretch." she finished when she was sure he was out of hearing range. She then hissed when she felt something sharp whip her back, _hard_.

"Love you too, sister dearest." she heard his voice echo down the hall.

* * *

Envy was walking down the hallway of the central command building, constantly changing into different soldiers as he found empty rooms, just in case. When he entered the library, he went into the supply closet and turned on the light, ready to change again when he felt something grab his leg.

"Envy, I need you to go up north with me, meet me at the train station in 5 minutes." Prides voice echoed through the closet, one big reddish pink eye staring at Envy from behind a shelf.

"5 Minutes? That's hardly even enough time to get out of this building!" Envy half yelled half whispered.

"_Make it work..."_ Pride ordered him. The Librarian was surprised, to say the least, when a dog bursted out of the closet and through the building. Officers and everyone in the building yelling as it ran past them at full speed. When Father was asleep you were never to disobey Pride, that would fall under the same level as disobeying Father.

As he got to the train station, people still yelling in fear, he could see Pride on the back deck of the train, arms crossed...and the train moving away. He decided it wouldn't be smart to just jump on board and change back in front of all these people, so instead he let the train get out of the station, and out of the city running out of breath as he follow it from a distance. When he deemed it deserted he jumped on board beside Pride, and landed in a tired heap, breathing hard as he changed back to his regular look mid air. So they sat, waiting for the train to reach the north border...Drachma.

* * *

When the train finally reached the Amestris northern border village, they got off and walked their way to Drachma. "So Envy...what has Father been having you do during this hiatus of the plan?" Pride started, trying to make small talk to make the time go by faster. He could honestly never stand being near anyone that wasn't Father, and sometimes he wondered which he hated more...the pathetic humans, or his horrible siblings. He dreaded the day when Father would make the others, currently only having the three.

"I just take the place of one of the generals during important meetings to listen in, just in case of treasonous ideas. So far I have 2 higher ups I now need to...deal with." Pride was tempted to ask if he could do away with them instead, how he adored torturing people to the brink of death...frightening them until they either lose their mind or just plain give up, but thought better of it. He needed to keep his brethren happy after all, until his own little "Promised day".

"How useful, I've been stuck with almost nothing to do, scrounging up stuff here an there." Pride rebutted, then he saw the Drachma city he wanted coming up. "You told the generals to send the troops today, correct?" Pride asked, expecting Envy to get his part of the task done prior to this day.

"Of course, I told them the drachmans had kidnapped an amestrian child and father, who happens to be a soldier, in order to torture them for information. So how are we going to do this?" Envy answered. Pride stopped and thought for a moment..

"You've seen a creature called a 'cat', correct?" Envy nodded. "Turn into a black one, go into the city and take something from someone, make sure they follow you out here to me." and Envy did just that. Pride could see a woman chasing him, and laid down on the ground of the snow, hardly feeling the cold at all, but hoping his cheeks had turned red to complete the "illusion" that he needed immediate help. The cat and woman finally reached him, and the woman nearly screamed at what she saw. She picked Pride up, and ran him down to the town, the guards not daring to stop her. Envy saw her take him to what looked like a hospital, then before coming up to the town, turned into an amestrian soldier.  
He looked back and noticed a bunch of amestrian soldiers far away, before running to the drachman village. "Halt!" one of the guards yelled, both pointing their guns at him...as he ran right past them. "...H-hey! Come back here!" The other yelled, both chasing after him. Envy stopped in the middle of town, and both guards started beating him with their guns in front of everyone...

The amestrian scouts were now looking through their binoculars on top of a hill, when they focused on the middle of town, and saw them beating a poor defenseless amestrian soldier in the middle of town. They went back to the truck and reported what they saw...then everyone got ready for a fight.

Pride "woke up" in his bed in the doctor's office. "You poor boy! What could have possibly happened to you out there?" The woman exclaimed, over joyous that the boy was alive. "I...I-I was a-attacked, b-b-by amestrian soldiers! T-they chased m-m-me all the way out here, and they're c-c-co-coming to kill me! I-I didn't even do anything!" Pride told her, and she gasped, believing him completely...I mean who would think that a poor child could cry AND lie at the same time? He was obviously telling the truth, and so she told him to wait right there, and went outside to tell everyone of what had happened to the poor boy. By the time the amestrian army had come down to the village...the villagers were all armed with whatever they could find...ready to defend that poor, helpless, little boy with their lives.

* * *

_**End Chapter**_

R&R!


	2. Chapter 2: There was the worst of times

Reviews:

Attention2Detaille: This is set before the creation of Sloth actually, but moves on through the series and to the end with changes through out it all, and a big change for the ending itself, But I'm making it up as I go along, which sometimes gets confusing when thinking how to make the homunculi interact each other, sometimes I make them love each other...sometimes hate each other, depends on my mood and the situation. Buuuuuuuuuuut I digress. Loved your stories by the way, they made me want to start writing my own again, so I suppose I should be thanking you too. I'm thinking of maybe doing two fics at once...we'll see though!

Disclaimer: I own no FMA, or I would be forced to be a lot more creative

_**...There was the worst of times**_

Waiting. Pride hated waiting, however patient he could be, he still detested waiting. A soldier finally came in the small shack he was in, "Are you okay little boy?" but if anything he hated more...it was when a _human_ looked down upon him. Resisting the urge to rip this man in two, he stood up.

"Yes, they were all so mean to me! They told me if I didn't tell them everything I knew about the Amestris army, they would kill me!" Pride told the man, "Are you going to take me back to central city safely?" he asked, his eyes growing wide with faked innocence.

"Of course, come with me and we'll get you back home. Won't even take a week kiddo." The man said happily, patting the boy's head. How he hated to be touched by anyone that wasn't Father...he wanted to make it look like Drachma was the aggressor on Amestris so he could have this village for the circle, maybe a few dead soldiers would make it look more realistic...

The man questioningly looked at the boy's shadow, which seemed to be contorting with an unnaturally distinct blackness to it...

Yes...just to make it more realistic, not for pleasure. Purely to play the system...to make Father_..proud_

Suddenly everyone heard a pained scream from the shack Pride was in.

_"Humans."_

* * *

"Pride." a voice thundered through the room, Father had finally woken up, Pride's turn to guard.

"Yes Father?" he answered, practically running to his side.

"Has Greed returned yet?" Father asked, still awaiting the return of Greed from Xing, sent there months ago to get whatever books on alchemy he could find, and to learn of the Xingese ways, hoping maybe for more philosopher stones. Pride closed his eyes and concentrated, opening eyes in small areas all across central. Alley ways, the shadows of sleeping people, animals, anywhere where they would not be seen.

"Not as far as I can see, Father." Pride said with slight hesitation, not ever wanting to be the one to bring bad news to him.

"I see...he should have been back a long time ago. Very well then, we may presume him a runaway, I was afraid he would do this. Let Lust and Envy know that if any of you see him, I want him brought back to me, even if you have to kill him a few times to do so." Father stood up, walking towards his bookshelf, "Maybe making Sloth will get rid of my need to sleep.." He said to himself. Turning back to see if Pride would agree, he saw that Pride was already long gone, no doubt off to do what he was told without a moments hesitation.

As he was walking down the streets, he could hear everyone talking about Drachma. "I heard they tortured that little boy in a house, while they beat the soldier out in the middle of town every single day!" one would say.

"It's truly a shame the things people will do these day, but now Amestris is running soldiers down there, I heard they're sending Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong there to lead the troops. Someone else said she wants to build a giant wall! Right in front of the village that they rescued the boy and soldier from. I'm not so sure how well that will work out though." Pride smiled at this, maybe that wall of theirs could be of some use in the future...no time for that now though. He needed to find Lust, Envy would be in the capital building around this time of day, he didn't think a child could just wander around there without an escort, not to mention how hard it would be to find Envy there in the first place. But Lust would get to Envy for him, she always did. Now what would Lust be doing at this time of day...

"Gah!" Pride mentally kicked himself, how could he DARE forget Father's words, even if they weren't directed to him? He stomped his foot, trying hard to remember what Lust was supposed to be doing and where. Father must have told her to do _something_.

Then it hit him.

"Aerugo."

* * *

People would eye him curiously, wondering who would dare let a child wander about by themselves on a train. When the train finally reached the border stop of Aerugo Pride couldn't be more relieved. He didn't know how much longer he could go with a bunch of people staring at him before he would actually snap. He made his way off the train and looked around...

"Now what?" he asked no one in particular, with no idea of where to even start looking for Lust. He walked out of the train station and looked around more. Maybe someone had seen her around? But he would need a picture, and for a picture he would need paper and ink. He found a bookshop and walked in, seeing only one worker and no other people. **"Perfect."** he thought.

"Well hey there youngster! Anything I can do fer ya?" shadowy hands grabbed the man and covered his mouth, grabbing the key in his pocket and unlocking the back door, they threw him in ignoring his muffled cries for help, then slammed and locked the door. He grabbed some paper, a quill and some ink, drew a picture of Lust to his best skill. Then he wrote a note and left it on the desk that read 'Shopkeeper locked in back, key in trash out front', and on his way out threw the key away.

"Lets hope someone wants a new book before he runs out of food then." he said to himself. He put on his best innocent child face, and began fake crying, as he walked around asking person after person if they've seen his 'mommy' anywhere, showing the picture to each. One had finally told him he saw her down in the south district this morning. "**This morning...the past...how helpful.**" he thought with a ton of sarcasm, making his way down to the south district...industry. What the hell was Lust doing down in industry? "Yes..yes that's...no thank you that's great though, have a nice day." a familiar near whispering voice sounded from far behind him. He ran towards her, and grabbed her hand form behind. She turned around ready to slap whoever was touching her expecting it to be yet another man, but she saw no one there...then she looked down, surprise obvious on her face at the big smile and innocent eyes looking up at her. She led him down to a house she had 'acquired' for temporary use, locking the door immediately after shutting it.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, watching him happily kick his legs back and forth on the edge of her bed.

"Well I was in the neighborhood and I just kind of thought 'hey maybe I'll pay Lust a visit while I'm here." he answered, a big smile plastered on his face. Sometimes Lust wondered if he was aware of the things he did half the time, or just forgets that he can drop his act. She sat down beside him and put her hand on his head, knowing how much it annoyed him when someone other than Father invaded his personal space. His smile quickly vanished with a look of great annoyance now taking its place. She then started scratching his head softly, and his eyes slowly drooped closed, his mouth hanging open slightly, and she smirked. **"So this is how you subdue the great and mighty Pride, hm? Almost like a child..."** She thought to herself. Several seconds passed like this until Pride jumped off the bed with a visible shiver running up his back when he landed.

"Fine, Greed has been declared a runaway by Father, and we're ordered to keep a watch for him. Father wants him alive, but we are allowed to kill him multiple times if necessary, so long as we bring him back to the lair. Just don't _ever_ touch me again!" he answered, trying to control his temper.

"Oh, but you looked so calm for once." She taunted, and ducked when a lamp flew at her face.

"_Shut up!_ Just watch for Greed and let Envy know. I can't get to him yet while he's in the capital building." Pride ordered her, slamming the door on his way out.

As he walked down the street towards the train station, he saw a familiar face..."You _can't_ be serious..." he said to himself...it was Greed, on a train, and the train was already pulling out. Pride began running, there was no possible way his little legs could get him to the train in time...but he could _not_ let Greed get away. He somehow got to the train right as it really picked up speed, jumping off the edge and grabbing onto one of the bars of the back deck.

"Hey hey! What have you been up to little one?" Greed greeted Pride, grinning as the boy tried to hang on to the bars of the deck as hard as he could.

"Greed...why...have you..ran away?" he demanded, annoyed by the wind whipping at his face.

"Simple...the old man is holding me back from what I want to do!" Greed answered, hardening one of his arms and pulling it back, ready to knock Pride off.

"You can't...run..forever..." Pride told him, a scowl on his face for what was about to come.

"Don't worry, I don't plan to." and Greed smashed Prides hand with his own against the bars, forcing him to let go and yelp in pain.

Pride fell back and tumbled against the ground, bouncing as he kept going the same speed the train was, slowing down with every hit. When he finally stopped, he looked up and saw Greed waving 'goodbye' to him. All he could do was scowl.

All he could do was throw a fit.

All he could do was be _useless..._

* * *

**_End chapter_**

Oh what to do next...R&R!


	3. Chapter 3: Well hello there

Disclaimer: I own no FMA, or I wouldn't be writing...I'd just make side episodes.

_**Well...hello there.**_

More waiting. Oh how he loved waiting...not. Pride was sitting on a bench in central, having figured out Greed went to West City, he told Lust who promptly went to get Envy to go with Pride. Pride didn't like Envy though...but was stuck with him as Lust had other things to do, he really would have rather gone with Lust, at least she wasn't as annoying as most others. If at all he guessed. Why did Pride not like Envy? Simple, Envy overreacted about every little thing in every little emotion. They were both waiting patiently, Envy showing great annoyance. He could of already been half way there if Pride wasn't here to slow him down, he wouldn't need to take a train because of his scrawny counterpart, he would've just ran there with no stopping at all. The train could not have arrived any later, both jumping up and walking rather fast with Pride almost having to run to keep up, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible.

They were sitting side by side on the train, Pride dozing off, Envy 'playing' with his fingers as they changed shape. He let out a loud sigh symbolizing he was bored out of his mind, resting his elbow on...you guessed it...Pride's head.

"You have an arm rest you know..." Pride told him calmly.

"Yeah, but...it just doesn't feel the same, you know?" Envy rebutted with a big grin on his face.

Pride sighed deeply, "I'm going to ask nicely one more time...please take your arm..Off. My. Head."

"Or you'll kill me in front of all these people and blow our cover?"

"We won't be in public forever you know.." Pride finished their little back and forth, slowly pushing Envy's arm off and resting his head against the window, going back to sleep.

* * *

Pride had never been in the west before, it was so much more developed than central. He looked around with child-like wonder, Central City was still working on developing these things called 'cars', but it seemed West City was already all over them. Buildings were taller, the people looked nicer, even the air seemed cleaner. Something was severely wrong here, no way humans could do all this themselves, especially when no one else could. But what made these humans so much more successful in their endeavors? Pride was awakened out of his thoughts by Envy patting his shoulder.

"Hey, do you feel that?" Envy asked, looking around.

"Yes...a presence unlike regular people..almost as if it were a completely and utterly holy being. It disgusts me." Pride answered, wondering if it had something to do with Greed. Shaking the feeling off, they both started forward, looking for any signs of Greed at all. A large stack of money, a crowd of women, a pile a things nobody would really even want, an independent homunculus foolish enough to run from Father...anything. They could find nothing, but kept hearing gossip about nonsensical things wherever they went, something about a 'sage'? Irrelevant, such things would not help him in fulfilling his task at hand.

Little did they know that the predators were becoming the prey, as Greed sat on a rooftop watching them from above, he tried to figure out a way to separate them. Envy alone was no problem, but engaging Pride was suicide, even if he was outnumbered greatly. It was funny to think that someone who looked so small and innocent was really one of the most dangerous people to ever live...regardless, he would need to find followers. He could move freely around a city and use his powers as he wished, but Pride and Envy could not so long as they were in public, so he was safe as long as he stayed in populated areas. Ah well, Greed didn't care, as long as he could get whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, he would do whatever necessary to get followers, and make his dream of true immortality come to realization. Even if it meant going after his own family members...

Pride couldn't stand this, nor could he understand how Envy and Lust could do this all day long. He felt like he was getting nothing done at all, he let Envy take the lead, obviously he would be better suited for this considering he does things like this all day everyday.

"Why would Greed even be here in the first place?" Pride asked, annoyed he had to almost run to keep up with Envy's fast walking.

"Maybe it has something to do with this 'sage' or whatever we keep hearing about. Don't people call Father 'The Sage of the East'? Maybe there's a 'Sage of the West' as well." Envy answered, walking towards an empty part of town, then stopping and lowering himself to whisper something to Pride.

Envy began walking in the opposite direction, Pride standing in the same spot to see him off. When Envy was out of sight, he began walking the direction opposite of Envy. Greed was confused now, standing on a roof high above, he thought Envy had went back to look around for him more...but where was Pride going? He decided he would follow Pride for a few moments just to get a general idea.

Walking. Pride hated that too, especially when he was alone, that was when it was exceptionally boring. Even if other people annoyed him to no end...it was still nice to have the company, you know? He finally reached the end of that side of town, the place looked completely empty and devoid of all life...to any normal human.

Crack.

"Whoops, did I do that?"

* * *

Envy was now in charge of looking for this 'Sage of the West' everyone kept talking about, fun. With any luck it would be someone of actual importance, if not..well the human was greatly wasting Envy's time. He was walking around asking people about him, all they would really tell him was that he was a 'saint', and 'the nicest man to ever live', Envy already hated him. Finally after getting pointed in so many different directions, he was closing in on whoever this person was supposed to be. He moved into an alleyway and transformed into a random person he saw back at the train station, and began walking towards the house where this supposed 'sage' was said to be living in.

He knocked on the door and it opened slightly, having not been shut all the way.

"Hello?" he asked, using a random voice that would hopefully suit the body he was using.

"Oh, hello there, can I-" Envy saw two people sitting by a table, one looked exactly like Father but wore glasses...the other looked exactly like the body Envy was using...

* * *

"Ugh, you broke my arm!" Greed exclaimed, alchemical light showering his left arm which he landed on.

"Well...hello there." Pride greeted, leaning with his back against a wall, staring at Greed with a big grin. Greed was standing now, looking around for any kind of escape, he wouldn't wish this fate even on his worst of enemies. He wasn't near crazy enough to take on Pride by himself, not without some extremely skilled fighters by his side. He turned tail and ran, running as fast as he could, he knew the things Pride could and would do, and he wouldn't dare stay to find out which of them he would do to him. Pride's smile faded, he began walking forward normally, as if not even wanting to catch up with Greed.

Greed had not been in this part of town before, he would have no idea where he's going...but Pride...Pride had eyes everywhere. He would walk through alleyways, take shortcuts and everything to end up in Greed's line of escape over and over. Everywhere Greed ran, Pride was there, almost like...that was it...Pride was _toying_ with him. But now Greed had a plan of his own..

He began running again, and when Pride came in his line of sight, he hardened his skin all over, making Pride's malicious little smile disappear.

"Do you think you can stop me simply because I can't pierce your skin? I have other ways of fighting you know..._Mr. Hard-head._" He said the last part with an ever growing grin, four shadowy spikes flying from behind him, each hitting one of Greed's arms and legs. They pushed him back into a wall, and Greed unhardened his arms and legs, letting the spikes sink in deeply before re-hardening them. Pride pulled his shadows back, and Greed came towards him with them, he made the shadows go up, and sent Greed up with them as well. He would smash them into walls, parts of the ground, anything to get him off.

"Get off!" Pride yelled, sounding like an angry kid that wasn't getting what he wanted. He sent his shadows up in the air fast, and Greed unhardened his arms and legs...sending him flying off the shadows.

"Bye then, and tell Father I said hey!" he yelled as he went flying through the air. Pride was not letting him get away again.

* * *

"W-what's the meaning of this?" the man asked, standing up from his chair and looking Envy over.

"**Crap, this can't be good.**" Envy thought, trying to think of something.

"I-I would like to know the meaning of _this!_" Envy exclaimed, pointing a finger at the man.

'The Sage of the West' was watching with ever growing curiosity, he had an idea of what might be happening...but it would be risky to test his theory, someone might get hurt.

"Excuse me, person who just entered, if you could look me straight in the eyes please." the sage asked. Envy did so, and the sage could tell from an immediate look...this was no human. "So, after mocking people for having families for so long, it turns out he wanted to start one of his own?" he asked, now standing.

Red sparks seared through the floor, ending right in front of Envy, and a large wooden spike erupted, stabbing him right through the stomach. Envy turned back to his regular form, and hit the spike as hard as he could, snapping it in half. He pulled the other half out of himself and began regenerating.

"Interesting tattoo you have there." the sage told him, pointing to his thigh.

"So, who are you with the looks and power of Father himself?" Envy asked through clenched teeth.

"You can call me Van Hohenheim, now I'm sure you would like to drag me off somewhere, but we're in public and I'm also sure you would have a cover to keep. Johnson, if you would be so kind as to tell the people of West City that I had to move somewhere else, it would be greatly appreciated." Hohenheim finished as he walked past a scowling Envy and towards the train station.

Envy wanted to scream at the top of his lungs so much right now...

* * *

Pride knew Greed would go to the train station, where else would he go? He would chase him across the country if need be, so he sat there, waiting. Envy would wonder where he is, but he wouldn't care, so long as he got Greed. He needed Greed for more reasons than just bringing him to Father, much more than that...

He was looking around, watching every passenger who boarded a train, checking every new shadow he could feel come within range, when he saw...

"Father?" he questioned, a look of great confusion on his face. He ran towards the man and tugged on his coat twice to get his attention.

"Well...hello there little boy. Is there something I can help you with?" Hohenheim asked, bending down to meet the boy's level. Something was off, why would Father be so far out from central? Did he want Greed so badly as to come and get him himself?

"Father, what are you doing way out here? Is something wrong...did _I _do something wrong?" Pride whispered, fear clouding his face and cringing during the last question.

"Um, I'm sorry little boy, I think you may have me mistaken for someone else." Hohenheim answered him, getting back up and getting ready to walk away.

"Wait! So..you're saying you've never seen me before?" Pride questioned.

"Not once in my entire life, sorry." Pride cringed deeper, had he failed so many times now that Father was just going to forget him completely now? Was Pride becoming a problem for Father? "**No, there's...there's no way he would do such a thing...not to me. I'm supposed to be his favorite aren't I? His first born...his...his..Pride.**"

Who else could look so much like Father?

"**Wait.**"

He remembered now, Father would tell him the stories when he was younger.

Father wanted this man as well, maybe even more than Greed. Then he looked around, and there was Greed. Getting on the same exact train as...

"_Hohenheim._"

No...no no no no no no no NO! This was a chance of a life time, a two for one deal. He didn't care how anymore, he didn't care for trouble anymore, he didn't care about the humans anymore. This was a chance to make Father more than happy, to maybe even make him smile, to make him_...proud._

Then the air was filled with screams, as everyone's shadows had seemed to come to life. No, Pride was not letting this chance slip through his fingers, no way. He would take them back kicking and screaming, he would even cut that train in half if need be. The people around him made no difference, he would let them live, but Greed and Hohenheim...he absolutely refused to let them both get away at the same time, even if he had to go so far as to kill them both over and over again.

He boarded the train, all shadows clouding around him to hide his image, hugging close to his body so he would just look like a big walking shadow with eyes and teeth all over, he spoke with a booming voice that seemed to echo from all over the train.

"WELL...HELLO THERE."

* * *

**_End Chapter_**

More reviews means more chapters! It also lets me know people are actually reading. Soooo...

R&R!


	4. Chapter 4: The Wicked demon of the west

Reviews:

Attention2Detaille: AU! That's the word I had been looking for but could not for the life of me remember, thank you. Yes it's going to be shown as AU in a lot of ways, Sloth Gluttony and Wrath aren't going to end up being as old as they originally were, but I was actually bringing Sloth up in this chapter. Wrath is coming up within this same year, along with Gluttony soon after Sloth.  
I would've kept Pride in central buuuuut...so much more I could do outside rather than staying inside, I would've ran out of things for him to do had he nowhere to go. As for the current Fuhrer...ehh...whoever was before him I guess, he'll be replaced though, even if it has to be a forced replacement. Anymore questions or misunderstandings? Feel free to ask!  
As for a break, nah I have fun with this. Kills a lot of free time when I don't have anything else happening yet. I'm already planning a one-shot as an epilogue for when this story is over too, and trying to think of other stories I could do, but a lot of ideas have already been taken and I don't wanna steal anything you know.

Disclaimer: I own no FMA, or the episodes would've taken FOREVER to come up with

_**The wicked demon of the west Part 1  
**_

Fighting. Fighting was something else Pride didn't like, it was like stooping to the level of everyone else below him. However if Father wished him to fight...then he would do so, even if it meant the death of himself. He however made the shadows hug him tightly, Father may approve of fighting in public for something this big, but Pride doubted he would approve of blowing his cover far before he became a bigger part of the plan.

The train was already moving by the time Pride walked on the back of it, people were cowering in their seats, children holding onto their parents tightly. Hohenheim had no idea what was going on up in one of the first train cars, but he didn't like it. He could hear the screams of people in the further back cars, and could hear everyone questioning each other as to what was happening. Greed was in the seat right behind Hohenheim, oblivious as to the man sitting behind him, had he looked up and back he would notice Hohenheim, but he was focused on the door, waiting for whatever was coming this way. Both looked out their windows when they noticed big reddish pink eyes staring in at them, giant grins under each eye. Hohenheim pulled down the curtain on his window and looked away.

"**My my, looks like he got too big for his container.**" Hohenheim thought, believing it was his life long enemy from Xerxes. "**Well I can't let him take me unfortunately, I've got people waiting for me in Resembool."**

Greed sighed, hoping he had got away for good this time, he got up and began walking down the train car towards the door. "**Geez, this guy just doesn't stop.**"

Pride was walking up the train cars, he knew where they were now. The humans screaming around him were annoying, but as long as they weren't getting in his way...  
He opened the door to the next car, and saw a bunch of people wearing uniforms holding guns pointed at him. "**Security? Pathetic.**" He thought as he began walking forward.

"Stop right there! Don't come any closer!" He ignored them, and stopped right in front of them, looking up to the one who spoke.

"Excuse me, but you're in my way. Could you please move? I won't kill you if you do." Pride asked nicely, humans responded positively to 'nice' did they not? He could remember a saying a woman said when he was walking through town one day, 'You catch more flies with honey, instead of vinegar'.

"Y-y-you're not supposed to be h-here a-a-are you?" one asked, all of them lowering their guns.

"You're greatly wasting my time, please move or I'll _make_ you move." Pride now ordered, he took another step forward, and the humans moved from his way fast. So maybe not all humans were brainless, but he was still far from impressed by these insects.

He saw the door on the other side of the car begin opening and shot two shadows directly at it, knocking Greed back the second the door was open. He walked through, holding Greed on the ground, Pride was done fooling around now. He had two prime objectives in front of him at the same time, he couldn't afford to play around now.

"Hohenheim, come out from your seat now. It's time to go to central now, I assure you it looks great this time of year." Pride told him, walking to the seat he should be in, yet finding it empty. He stared at the seat, mouths agape and eyes wide, before his teeth clenched and spikes shot up through the roof of the train yelling. "HOHENHEIIIIIIIIIIIIIM!"

Hohenheim was walking carefully on the roof of the train, maybe if he was quiet he wouldn't be found...but its hard being quiet when you have wind strong enough to throw someone pushing you. He heard someone scream his name and saw black spikes shoot up through the roof of the train all around him. He really hoped none would come from below him, as he continued walking forward to the back of the train.

Pride wasn't joking when he said he would tear this train apart to get these two, because that's what he started doing. He tore seats out from the floor, tore doors out of hinges and even began tearing a hole into the ceiling...  
"**The roof.**" He thought, he used the shadows to make some steps that lead to the hole he just finished making, walking up to the roof of the train.

"Can you at least put me in a chair?" Greed called up to him, still pinned on the floor.

"So you thought to jump off to escape? How daring, but it's time to go Hohenheim, I'm not letting you escape." Pride began walking towards him, surprising Hohenheim by his sudden appearance.

"Of what use do you have for me that makes you want me so badly, little man in the flask?" Hohenheim retorted, taking a few steps back.

"Little man in the flask?...do you mean Father? No, I'm not the person you know, but he is the one I'm taking you to, I'm not entirely sure for what reason he wants you but he told me he wants you, and what Father want I will get." Pride began sending shadowy hands across the train to grab Hohenheim.

"Maybe we can talk about this instead? I'm really not that great a fighter." Hohenheim suggested, ducking dodging and everything he could to not get caught.

"I have a task, and it doesn't include talking to the enemy about our plans." Pride answered, rejecting his proposal and sending more hands out towards him.

"Listen, I would love to go with you to your father honestly, but I have a lot of things I need to do before I can go back to him. It could take me a few years, but send my regards and tell him Slave 23 says 'hi'.". Hohenheim told him, alchemical light searing through the roof of the train, and making the spot Pride was standing on collapse...and the spot where he landed collapse as well, making him fall off the train.

Greed saw the shadows holding him down disperse, as Hohenheim saw the ones chasing him disperse as well.

This couldn't be happening...no. It couldn't be, it just couldn't. Pride got up and began running down the tracks, the train quickly fading from his sight. He stopped running, knowing it was futile, and fell onto his knees when he slowed to a stop, staring on at the disappearing train. He sat on his knees like that for what felt like forever, his eyes blank and his mouth hanging open slightly. There was only one word running through his head at the moment, 'Punishment', anything else was irrelevant or non-existent. All he could think about was how disappointed Father was going to be in him, so much so that when a hand rested on his shoulder he didn't even notice it.

"Geez, what happened to you?" It was Envy, he was snapped out of his trance by the sound of his voice. He lifted his arms into the air and slammed them down on the ground as fists, screaming at the top of his lungs. Envy recoiled, jumping back away. "It was just a question! Fine you don't have to tell me, sheesh."

* * *

Pride was sitting in a corner of Father's lair now. Father had said that it was ok and he didn't need Greed and Hohenheim right away, but Pride wouldn't believe him. He knew he had failed Father greatly, and if Father wasn't going to punish him, then Pride would do it himself. He hadn't moved, eaten, slept or even blinked in _days_ now. Lust had tried to speak to him, but he wouldn't answer, even Envy had began to worry and tried getting him to do something, _anything_.

After about a week of this Pride had finally stood up and walked over to stand beside Father. "I..I'm sorry I failed you Father..but I'm done with my punishment now, is there anything you would like me to do?" Pride asked, a hopeful and apologetic smile on his face.

"Yes, in fact I need you to go get your siblings, I'm almost done making your new brother." Father told him, working on a table too high for Pride to see. Pride nodded and ran off to go find Lust, who would get Envy for him.

He found Lust out by a newspaper stand, reading one of the papers with a bored expression and leaning against the stand, the man running the stand too captivated by her to make her pay for the paper.

"Solaris, Father needs us, and I need you to get brother." Lust was surprised to hear the familiar voice, convinced he would have never moved from that corner again. She nodded and began walking to central command, before turning and grabbing Pride's hand, dragging him with her. Pride had said he wanted to see the inside of the command building, but never could without an adult accompanying him.

He was looking around at all the humans passing by, Father had told him there are some very important people in that building and he wanted to see if he could recognize anyone. His eyes rested on one man in particular, he had black hair and wore gloves with transmutation circles on them, was that the 'Roy Mustang' he had heard so much about? There was also a female following him, she had blond hair and was nagging at him, pushing papers in his face as he waved them away looking very sleepy. As they walked by each other she gave him a quick glance, then turned around and stared at him with an expression of near terror. Did he know her? He didn't remember her...

Besides that woman, no one else seemed to really notice them at all, until one soldier stopped them in the middle of the hallway. "Excuse me ma'am, I'm going to need you two to come with me." The soldier led them into a conference room at the top floor of the building, and shut the doors behind them.

"So I see you finally left the corner." Envy commented, turning back into his regular form. "Father needs us downstairs now, he's almost done making our new brother." Pride told them, already heading towards the door.

"Wait a sec there shorty, we have another entrance up here too." Envy halted him, going towards a bookcase and pulling a book, making it move to reveal some stairs.

"Don't call me short." Pride told him, pushing Envy with his own shadow as he walked past.

Walking down those stairs took what seemed like an eternity before all three of them finally got tired of it and just jumped off. Whatever injuries they get would be fixed anyways. Envy landed first, making a giant crater in the ground, which got Father's attention as he looked over. Lust landed second on top of Envy, and Pride on top of Lust.

"Jumping in a line...not one of our better ideas." Lust stated, standing up and picking Pride up. They all crawled out of the crater and walked over to Father's table, Pride now standing on a stool Father had transmuted for him so he could see the top of the table.

There was a giant on the table, it's eyes closed and body limp, but it was breathing. "So, whose this one?" Envy asked, looking him over.

"This is your new brother, Sloth." Father answered him.

**"Sloth? As in Lazy? Somehow I get the feeling I'm going to be responsible for him..."** Pride thought to himself. The giant known as 'Sloth' opened his eye and looked around slowly.

"Who..are you..all?" He asked ever so slowly.

"Please tell me he doesn't do _everything_ that slowly, Father." Pride began, believing his new sibling to already be a waste.

"Fa..ther?" Sloth questioned, sitting up and looking over at Father.

"Well, not everything no. Sloth," Sloth was now standing, watching Father intently. "I would like you to run at that wall as fast as you can." Father told him, pointing to a random wall. Sloth obeyed, turning and taking a step back and disappearing from view in a second.

"Wh...where did he go?" Envy asked, before Lust pointed to the wall Father pointed to, her mouth agape. Everyone drew their attention over there and saw Sloth trying to pull his head out of a big hole in the wall.

"...Maybe he won't be _completely_ useless then." Pride corrected himself, sitting on the edge of the table and watching Sloth slowly make his way back.

"What would he be used for, Father? He's far to big to be passed off as a human, no way we can send him out in public." Lust questioned, examining Sloth's figure.

Pride sighed loudly, already knowing. "I guess I'm going to be the guard?" He really didn't want to have to watch over this big oaf, knowing full well what was coming up.

"When the time comes, yes. But first I need you to take him upstairs, Pride, you're going to fill in for me in the meeting of the generals today. Let them know if they ever see Sloth underground in central, then they're in an area they shouldn't be in, and if they ever see him in public in the future, to make a story and direct him back underground from whatever hole he crawled out of." Father told him, walking towards an exit only he was allowed to use. "I'll be back in a week or two, I have a few things I need to test that I can't do here. I've left a list of what needs to be done in my absence for you Pride, make sure they get done." Father's slowly disappearing voice ended from down the tunnel.

Pride looked around for this list, and found it on Father's chair. The list was about the same length as Lust's height, each task having a detailed description with it. Pride looked around, seeing Envy had already left long ago with little care for his new brother. "Lust, what is this 'laboratory' thing on the list?" Pride asked with deep confusion on his face as he went over the list.

"Maybe I should just come with you." Lust offered, taking his hand and leading him towards the stairs to the conference room.

"Sloth, lets go." Pride ordered, looking back at him. Sloth began slowly making his way towards the stairs, and took even longer getting up them.

Lust and Pride were sitting on the railing of the top stairs, conversing as they waited for Sloth. "The generals don't know about us, do they?" Pride questioned, changing the subject from the news of the Drachma/Amestris non-aggression treaty.

"Come to think of it, no I don't think Father ever told them about us." Lust said, taking a moment to think about it.

"This ought to be fun then." Pride said, a smile creeping onto his face, then quickly disappearing when he looked down to see Sloth only reaching the half way point.

"HURRY UP!" Pride and Lust yelled in unison.

* * *

**_End Chapter_**

R&R!


	5. Chapter 5: Of what use is he?

Disclaimer: I own no FMA, or I would be super rich

_**Of what use is he?  
**_

The generals of this country were all waiting in the conference room. Some were going over paperwork, others speaking amongst each other. The bookcase hiding the hidden path moved and everyone returned to their respective seats, awaiting their leader whom will lead them all to immortality and good fortune...but instead a giant stepped through, followed by a woman and a child. "What is the meaning of this? Who are you three and where is the sage?" one bold general spoke out, not liking the looks of these three.

"We're here to fill in for the absence of our father, your so called 'sage'. My name is Lust, but you will call me by 'Solaris' when in public. This is my older brother, Pride." Lust motioned to Pride's direction, and everyone looked all around but could not see him. Pride stuck his hand up from beside the table, and Lust picked him up to put him on the table.

"Don't you mean younger brother?" another general questioned, looking over the child's figure.

"No," Pride began, his shadow starting to creep around him with 1 thin eye on it, "in public you all will refer to me as Selim, in private you all will respect me and my siblings as if they were the sage himself." Pride told him as he paced back and forth on the table.

"And if we are to deter from said order? I don't let my own children boss me around, why am I to take orders from a child that I _don't _know?" an older looking general asked. Pride stared at him long and hard, the general glaring back. Neither were faltering, until Pride started walking towards him on the table, and even Lust began to back away. Pride stood over the man sitting man, he bent down to meet his eye level and closed for eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them again, they had turned from dark brown to purple.

"Because I'm allowing you to live unharmed for now, you insect." Pride's echoing voice was heard by all in the room, the man standing up now pulled out his pistol and planted the barrel right on Pride's forehead.

"Who are _you _to give orders to_-_AGHHHHHHH!" the man was interrupted as 2 nails had shot out from across to room and hung him to the wall by his shoulders. Pride jumped off the table and walked over to the pinned man, looking up at him he gave the man a sweet little smile before turning to the rest of them.

"Father told me we shouldn't kill any of you, you're all very important..." his smile serene smile turned to a malicious grin as a shadow shot out from behind him and through general on the wall, "...however highly expendable." he finished. He scanned the room for anyone else who might be a problem. Lust was cleaning her nails, all the rest of the generals were unmoved with terrified expressions...and how long had Sloth been asleep in the corner?

Pride climbed on the dead general's chair to get back on the table and stood in the middle, pointing at Sloth. "Moving on...that is our younger brother, Sloth. He is never to be seen in public..._ever. _by_ anyone._ Got it?" all the generals nodded in unison. "Very good," Pride pulled Father's list out and began reading under the 'conference' category. "General...Raven, is it? Have you got any ideas on how to start the war with Aerugo looking like the aggressors yet?" Pride looked around, until he saw a dark skinned man stand up and begin to speak.

"Not yet, the prince there seems to be peaceful in every way possible. I bet he would even go so far as to help another nation without worry of his own nation's safety." Raven answered, sitting back down quickly when he finished.

"Maybe we can use that against them in the future...doesn't the prince have a particular care for Ishavalans? Not to mention we have an ishval civil war planned." Lust stated, now standing at a corner of the table.

"We'll see...Lieutenant General Gardner, the Creta situation?" Pride turned to see the older man standing.

"It seems that they have already stationed soldiers at our borders, like they're waiting for us to strike first." Gardner reported, sitting back down. Pride looked at Lust expectantly.

"Me and Envy already have a plan for Ishval, we can probably just do the same thing to Creta that we'll do to Ishval." Pride nodded slowly as he looked down, thinking.

**"What would Father do in a situation such as this..."** Pride thought to himself. He looked around at everyone, most all eyes laying on him for decisions. **"Father wouldn't stand around and waste time."** he finally thought.

"Make it seem as though we are going to annex Creta, however do not send enough to actually do it. I want no one going past the Pendleton village in Creta, we will handle Aerugo when the time is right. Bring up state alchemist tests more often, we still need to find human sacrifices, because so far we only know of two, one of which we can not find yet. I want more guards sent to Dublith to ensure the safety of one of those sacrifices, and if anyone ever hears the name 'Van Hohenheim', come to us immediately. I want you all to take Sloth and find a secure location for him to begin digging the circle using this map, you may make up any story you like to excuse him in public, but still try to keep him hidden. You all need to keep the current fuhrer alive for a few years longer, we plan to have another one of us become the fuhrer. You'll know him when you see him. That will be all for today. Until next we meet, gentlemen." Yes...that was good. Taking charge, just like Father would do...but _clearly_ nowhere near as well as Father would have done.

"Wait!" one of the generals called to them, "We also got reports of some...'demon' in the west. He attacked a train but security said he was very, polite?...Was that you?" the old man asked. Pride turned back to them, clearly annoyed of them bringing up his failure.

"Make up a story..." he said with spite in his voice.

Pride and Lust began walking back towards the bookcase entrance again, but Pride stopped and turned around. "Oh, and please remember..." everyone's shadows grabbed their respective owners and held them each in the air, "...I'll always be watching from your shadows..." Pride's voice echoed through the room, over the sound of the muffled yells of the generals. He put them down after he was out of sight, and left them with whatever they had planned to get Sloth to begin digging.

* * *

Pride and Lust were walking down the sewer exit of Father's Lair, he had delivered Sloth to the generals, and would give them three days to get the tunnel started before he would take matters into his own hands.

"So, what does that leave for us to do?" Lust asked, noticing he had no direct path as he sauntered down the walkway without any real care which turns he took. Pride didn't hear her as he was deep in thought, his legs moving on his own and hardly caring where they took him right now. "Pride?" Lust tried again, and once again getting no answer. **"I'm probably going to regret this..."** Lust wasn't sure what to do, so she decided to do something that was near suicidal, hopefully he would show mercy. She pulled her hand back and smacked him on the back of his head as hard as she could and she braced for whatever would hit her...but nothing came.

She looked down at him and saw him glaring up at her. "_What?_" She sighed in relief of not getting hurt over that.

"What are we supposed to be doing now?" she asked.

"Honestly I didn't even know you were following me, there is nothing left on the list for today, so you and Envy should go make another one or two more blood crests. I'll keep myself entertained until you guys are back." Pride stated.

"Well why don't you come with us? You always did hate staying cooped up in once place didn't you?" Lust offered. Pride thought about this for a moment, he didn't truly have anything better to do.

"Sure, why not." he answered, turning to walk back with her. Maybe he might even end up having fun, who knows? Maybe if he was lucky he might find some ideas for his plan as well.

* * *

He, Envy and Lust were sitting on the train going to East City, Lust had said she had someone she wanted him to meet. She was sitting beside Envy and across from Pride, for the sake of keeping them separated so Envy doesn't have to lose any lives without Father here to give him more. Envy had his head on the table in the middle of them, bored out of his mind, Lust was carefully watching the men gawking at her and Pride had fallen asleep with his head against the window. He opened an eye to peer out the window when they started pulling into the train station, he really didn't want to get up yet, but for now he was to watch over his little siblings.

They began departing from the train, and he looked around for a moment while Lust and Envy were already walking off, having already seen East City before.

"Come on Selim, the man you're meeting doesn't really like to wait, plus I think you might like him." Lust called after him, and Pride hurried along to catch up, now interested to see whoever they were meeting up with. They came up to the eastern command building, and Lust told them to wait outside while she went in to go get him. Envy was tapping his foot impatiently, and the sound was starting to annoy Pride greatly. Just when he was about to do something Lust came walking out with a man in all white clothes, a white coat and white hat right behind her. He had his black hair in a ponytail with 2 loose long strands in front of his face. He looked down at the "child" as if assessing him, as the boy looked up at the man assessing him as well. Pride put his hand out with a big smile on his face.

"Hello! It's nice to meet you." The man let a sly smile appear on his face, not being fooled by this boy at all, he was no ordinary person. Especially not if he was with _these_ two.

"Hello there, my name is Solf J. Kimblee, what's yours?" he asked, bending down to meet the Pride's level and shaking his hand.

"You can call me Selim." Pride answered.

"It's alright Pride, he already knows about us." Envy told him as they all began walking through down, Pride with no idea where they were going.

"Oh! So you're the illustrious Pride that I've heard so much about. They neglected to tell me, however, of your child-like figure, you almost had me fooled for a moment." Kimblee said with a more genuine smile now.

Pride's smile had long past disappeared by now, they had been walking through town for almost an hour now, and he was getting sick of seemingly getting nothing done for so long. When they finally entered an abandoned, run down building, he began questioning them the very second the door shut as if Kimblee wasn't even there in the first place. "Why does this human know about us?" he spat, looking directly at Envy as if it was his dumb idea to begin with.

"It was my idea, Pride." Lust told him, "He has certain..qualities that could benefit us greatly. He does not look upon us homunculi as monsters either. Kimblee, could you go wait in the other room while have a uh...''family meeting''?" Lust asked. Kimblee nodded and walked towards the door on the opposite side of the room.

In this room Kimblee waited, sitting in a chair at a table. The building was old and breaking down, almost as if it was a shack no one ever entered right in the middle of town. He would occasionally hear something being thrown in the other room, a yell or two. Then he heard a weird noise he had never heard before, so he looked up...  
There was a giant eye staring at him on the ceiling. It seemed to be very angry, glaring at him deeply. He gave it a small smile and waved weakly at it, which only seemed to make it more angry. He wasn't going to lie...he was getting a little frightened now, Kimblee knew the powers of Lust and Envy, but they never told him what Pride could do, only that he was ruthless and at times an extreme sadist. Lust had told him that Pride could be nice sometimes...almost like a really intelligent child... but those times were rare and only with people he trusted. Kimblee was new to him...he obviously wouldn't be trusted yet, so he felt he should probably take cover...

Then the spikes shot down from the ceiling, and Kimblee jumped out of his chair, running to the other side of the table. This was certainly new to him, then his own shadow grabbed him from behind, lifting him up into the air.

The door was busted open, Envy flying through and hitting the wall. Lust came in next, being restricted by another shadowy tendril, then Pride stood in the archway of the broken door.

"You two _dare_ go against Father's orders to keep unknown to the humans we were not assigned to know? Is what he tells you _not_ to do but a game to you?" Pride's voice echoed all throughout the abandoned building, the spite and venom easily heard at such a thought as going against what Father says.

"Pride...please...just let Father meet this man first, he can help us greatly I assure you!" Lust pleaded. Kimblee dared not struggle against his captor, Pride's attention was not placed on him...and he _really_ wanted to keep it that way right now.

Envy was getting up now, only to be grabbed once again and have his back slammed against Lust's. Pride looked into Lust's eyes, seeing the pain. He hated punishing her, he really did, however it was his job to do so whenever necessary. "What could this man possibly have that we would want?" he questioned, now looking Kimblee over.

"He knows of a person we could use as a human sacrifice." Envy answered. This surprised Pride...and made a smile creep onto his face...

"The second of 5, huh? Color me intrigued..."

* * *

**_End Chapter_**

R&R!**_  
_**


	6. Chapter 6: A sacrifice can be a treasure

Disclaimer: I own no FMA, or I wouldn't be writing this disclaimer.

_**A sacrifice can be a treasure  
**_

Pride was alone with Kimblee now, something neither of them were too happy about right now. Pride did not know Kimblee well at all, therefore he did not like him at all either, and Kimblee hasn't exactly had a nice first impression with Pride.

"Why do it?" the boy's voice broke the silence. They had been walking through the town looking for Lust and Envy, whom had left in order for Pride to get more acquainted with Kimblee, and hopefully not kill him. Kimblee looked down at him in confusion, though Pride was not looking him Kimblee.

"Why do what?" Kimblee asked, confusion in his voice.

"Why help us if you know what is to come from our plan coming to fruition?" Pride asked once again.

"I believe in the fates...I want to see what this world will choose, humans or homunculi. Though I won't really be able to find out if I'm not apart of it all, now will I?" Kimblee answered.

"Then you should be warned that once you tell us of this human sacrifice, you will be considered useless and maybe even a threat with the knowledge you have of us." Pride told him, though Kimblee seemed fully aware of this already.

"Oh I know, and fate will decide what happens after I become "useless", if I live, then I live to fight another day. If I die...well, I can't say I'll be happy about it, but it's not really my decision. Though I'm willing to drag this out as far as I need to as long as it keeps me alive." Kimblee retorted, and Pride gave a small smile at the human's attempt for survival.

"How tenacious." Pride stated.

They met up with Lust and Envy down at the train station, Kimblee had said the person they would be looking for is down in a place called...  
"Dublith."

* * *

"So...why don't you tell me a little about yourself, Pride?" Kimblee asked, trying to make friends with the homunculus. Pride stared at him long and hard, making Kimblee and even Lust a little uncomfortable.

Then Pride opened his mouth, "You're going to die one day." so much for making friends then. Lust sighed and looked over at Envy for some kind of way to make Pride calm down some, but Envy just shrugged, then Lust remembered something from about a week ago. She brought her hand over to the top of Pride's head and began softly scratching his hair. In response, his glare on Kimblee lessened, and he seemed to be staring more off into space than at anything specific. His eyes drooped closed, and he fell asleep leaning against Lust's side as she petted his head, his mouth hanging open slightly. Envy was shocked to say the least, he had never seen Pride act so vulnerable before, and Kimblee was just happy those evil eyes of Pride's weren't shooting daggers at him anymore.

Pride awoke several hours later, he was laying down on his side, curled up in a ball in his seat, drool pooling around his cheek. He sat up slowly, wiping the drool off his face with his sleeve. He looked around and saw Envy, Lust and some strange man talking. Wait...that's right, that was Kimblee. He tugged lightly on Lust's glove sleeve to get her attention, asking where he was. Right...he was going to Dublith to see a sacrifice. Still need to find 3 others though, and get a hold of Hohenheim.

"So Pride, do yo-" Envy began but was smacked on the head by Lust, making him think better of taunting the boy. Pride stared at him confusedly for a second before looking out the window, they were starting to pull into the train station.

"Is this Dublith or another stop?" Pride questioned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"It's Dublith, so we better go ahead and start moving towards an exit." Kimblee answered him, waiting for Envy to get up so he could go.

Once off the train, Kimblee started through the town, everyone following closely. They were passing a bar called "The Devil's Nest" now, and Pride stopped in his tracks right outside the door. The others walked a few more steps before noticing he wasn't following, and turned around to watch him.

"Pride?" Lust asked, trying to get his attention. Though he stood there, unmoving, with an expression of deep thought and confusion on his face. Something was nearby...

Greed was pressed up against a wall now. Pride was nearby...he could feel the boy's hatred from in here. "Turn off the lights Martel! Don't leave a single light on _anywhere_ in this room! TURN THEM ALL OFF NOW!" and it went completely dark.

**"Could it be?..."** Pride thought to himself, but was interrupted as he was about to grab the door knob.

"Come on Pride, we don't have all day." Envy rushed him, and Pride took his hand off the knob to continue walking forward. He would hold on to the thought for later. A few more moments of walking put them outside of...

"A meat shop? What kind of alchemist runs a meat shop?" Envy asked full of skepticism.

"I don't know much about her, but when I was stationed here for awhile I saw her using alchemy without any transmutation circles." Kimblee answered him.

"Oh? How interesting, consider her a confirmed sacrifice then. The 3 of you go and ask around about her, I'm going to see what I can get directly from the source." Pride ordered them, walking towards the shop.

He entered the shop and walked up to the counter, seeing no one there. "Excuse me, is anyone here?" he called into the back, and a very large man stepped forward, looking around for the person behind the voice. "Um, down here." Pride waved a hand over the counter, and the man looked over to see the boy.

"Oh, hello there, is there something I can help you with?" the man questioned, smiling at the small youth.

"Yes, could I please talk to the lady that works here?" Pride asked, smiling his biggest innocent smile. This caught Sig off guard some, but he nodded slowly and directed the boy into the back.

Pride saw a woman lying in bed, as she sat up to look at him, she gave a small smile. "Hello there, is there something you need?" she asked softly, wondering who this child was exactly, she had never seen him around before.

"Yes, I was wondering...are you an alchemist by chance? I've always liked alchemy and wanted to be an alchemist myself." Pride asked, trying his best to look as innocent as possible. This woman was no fool, he could tell.

"Well I do alchemy but no, I'm not an alchemist, I'm just a simple housewife." she answered.

"Oh, because I heard someone saying you could perform alchemy without a transmutation circle. I was wondering how you can do that?" Pride asked, his eyes wide with fake curiosity.

"Oh...you shouldn't worry about that. It's really not a skill you want to have." Prided nodded slowly, showing he understood completely before walking towards the door.

"Thank you, Miss..."

"Izumi, Izumi Curtis. Don't be a stranger if you need any help with something you can't handle." she waved goodbye, giving the boy a smile. Yes...she'll do nicely.

* * *

_**End Chapter**_

Remember, reviews help me not forget I have this going.

R&R!


	7. Ch7: Abundance of girth and fit of rage

Reviews:

Moofy-Fan: I was actually thinking about that before but never got around to actually trying it, I like it though. Looks more spaced out now, more organized and such, thanks for that tip! Glad you're enjoying the story too, it's always nice to hear someone say they are. Note to self: Fix other chapters as well.

Disclaimer: I own no FMA, or Edward wouldn't have been the main character

_**An abundance of girth and fit of rage  
**_

Pride was sitting against the back of Father's chair, hugging his legs with his knees pressed up against his chest. He rested his chin on his knees and stared out into space, waiting anxiously for Father to return. Father was a few days late in his return but Pride didn't worry. He heard footsteps coming from down the hall, and he rushed over to the door immediately. He waited right around the corner of the door, keeping his head bowed a little so as to greet Father properly. When the footsteps reached the door, the source of them rounded the corner and ran directly into Pride, knocking him over and stepping on top of him as they kept walking. Pride looked up at the person in question, not knowing who on earth this person could even be.

"Who...are you?" he asked the person, gaining their attention.

"Ooh! A little boy! Children have such soft flesh, so tasty! May I eat him?" the man chanted, reaching out to grab Pride, but Pride smacked his hands and backed away. He didn't know who this person was, but he was far too important to Father to be 'eaten' by anyone.

"I don't know who you are, but you sure as hell don't belong here, Mr. Fatty." Pride scoffed at him, standing up and dusting himself off, getting his shadows into place to strike.

"No, Gluttony, you may not eat him. He is your older brother I was telling you about." Father came around the corner, and Pride grew a wide smile before quickly hiding it as he turned around to bow his head to Father in greeting.

"Welcome back, Father. I had completed all tasks but one during your absence, I thought you might want to do the last yourself. I also have someone for you to meet, who bares very good news." Pride welcomed and briefed Father, pointing to Kimblee in the back of the room. Father stared at the man, wondering when Pride had ever taken an interest in any human at all.

"What news would a normal human bring to us?" Father questioned Pride.

"Lust and Envy had apparently been talking to him before, he already knows about us and has accepted us. He wants 'to see which side the world will choose' he says, humans or homunculi. As for the news he brings...he found a human sacrifice. A woman by the name of Izumi Curtis who apparently had tried a human transmutation to bring her dead child back to life. Some of her insides were taken by Truth so as to keep her from having another child. He claims to have seen her perform transmutations without any circles involved. The reason I bring you to him is for you to decide whether to dispose of him or not." Pride finished, watching as Father inspected Kimblee from afar.

Kimblee too was watching the two converse, wondering what they were saying, as they were obviously talking about hm, or they wouldn't be looking at him so much. If they would let him live he would need to try to get closer to Pride, that boy seems to be the most currently important one here. He seems to be the connection between Father and the other homunculi, meaning one bad comment from Pride and he could be six feet under right now. Yes, he would need to get much, much closer to the boy.

"Let him live, he seems to be trustworthy, though keep a close eye on him. In the meantime I need you to take your new brother Gluttony here to Lust, he seemed to hold most fascination in her when I was telling him about you all. He isn't the brightest in the world, but he can be somewhat useful in a fight and has a very strong nose, good for tracking purposes. I would assume she of all people here would need to track people the most." Father said, now returning to his chair.

"After that, I will need you to come back to me. We will go to fulfill the last task on your list together." Father finished as he sat down, and Pride beamed with uncontainable excitement. Father wanted him to come fulfill a mission with him? It was like a dream come true.

He told Gluttony to follow him and ran over to Kimblee, he wanted to get his small objectives done quick so he could go with Father.

"Looks like you live to fight another day, Kimblee. However we will be watching you closely, I wouldn't recommend turning on us. Please remember though..I'll always be watching from the shadows..." Pride warned him, walking off with Gluttony in tow.

"So Father says you have a good nose, lets see how good it really is. Find the scent of the one named Lust and lead me to her." Pride ordered, stepping back to let Gluttony take the lead. Gluttony stopped a moment and sniffed the air before he began forward, leading Pride through the sewer and out towards the alleyway exit of the lair.

He made Gluttony stick to dark alleyways and rooftops, so as to not be seen by the public. Gluttony didn't exactly look like one of the more normal homunculi. Gluttony lead him through the town to the market district, and pointed to Lust as he patted Gluttony on the back.

"Very good job, maybe there will be some use for you after all." he complimented Gluttony. He told Gluttony to stay here as he went to go get Lust. Gluttony watched him lead Lust back to the alley they were in and introduced Lust to Gluttony.

"That was all I was told to do, he's your responsibility now, I have to go." Pride finished, walking away and leaving Lust to her new partner.

* * *

Pride returned to Father's lair, slowing his run back to a regular walk as he rounded the corner.

"Father? I'm ready to go when you are." Pride said, waiting in front of him. Father put the book he was reading down and looked over Pride, inspecting his son.

"No...those clothes won't do, go get your good suit. I need you to look your best for this, it's very important." Father ordered him, picking his book back up. Pride looked himself over, wearing his plain black shirt tucked into his tan pants and, as he just noticed, he had socks on but no shoes. Weird, he could have swore he had put shoes on earlier...  
How could he have been so foolish though? Father only deserved his best attire. He ran back to the room that Father had made for him some century ago and went through his pile of clothes in the corner, pulling out a white shirt, black button up jacket, black pants and his extra pair of shiny black shoes. His other pair seemed to be missing right now...he'll have to remember to find those later.

He ran back to Father, clearing his throat to get Father's attention. When Father put his book down he nodded in approval, getting up and having Pride follow him. They used an exit Pride hadn't used before, the one that leads to the deeper sanctums of laboratory 5. After leaving the lair they were greeted by two people right outside the door, one of them Pride recognized as General Raven, the other he did not know, but noted the gold tooth and droopy eyes the old man had. The two humans walked up to the homunculi with Raven trying to avoid eye contact with Pride, remembering him from but a week ago. The old man looked the boy standing behind Father over, pointing down at him.

"Sir, you know you have a child following you, right?" the man pointed out. This made Pride scowl deeply at him and take a step forward, only to be held back by Father.

"Doctor, this is my first born son, Pride." Father informed him, moving his hand away as Pride stood calmly now. Pride bowed his head in apology to Father, hoping what he was about to do wasn't considered out of line, he should be on his best behavior for Father.

"Ahhh, I see I see...my mistake, I'm sorry Pride." the doctor held out his hand to the boy, "It's nice to meet you then." the doctor tried again, smiling this time. Pride stared at his hand a moment before looking up to Father, who was watching closely. Pride wanted nothing more than to smack the doctor's hand away, but he had to be good for Father, so he took the man's hand and shook it eagerly with a big smile on his face. The group began moving through the big white room, down a dark hallway and into a room with a table in the middle. The room was filled with men in white lab coats working tirelessly, and Pride could hear sounds through the door on the other side of the room. It sounded like people were fighting, metal hitting metal, and suppressed yells of pain. Father, Raven and the doctor were talking now, so Pride assumed he was to entertain himself until they were done. He looked back at the door, wondering what was happening through there, but thought he should probably stay close to Father for now. Curiosity got the better of him though as he made his way to the door, and walked through.

He found himself outside in a big courtyard with giant walls that had barbed wires on top. The sun was just setting, gibing everything an orange hue, and there were men all around the courtyard grouped in pairs as they fought sword to sword. Pride felt a large hand settle on his shoulder and turned around quickly to see Father, Raven and the doctor all looking down at him.

"Didn't I tell you never to wander away from me, Pride?" Father warned him, and Pride quickly replaced his surprised expression with an apologetic one, bowing his head low.

"Sorry, Father, my curiosity just got the best of me." he apologized quickly and quietly, looking back out at the soldiers again. Father lead Pride info a corner of the courtyard, and hid him in it's shadow before going out into the middle of the courtyard with the doctor and Raven. The doctor claped his hands three times to get the attention of the fighting men, all of them immediately stopping whatever they were doing and gathering in front of the doctor in a box formation.

"Greetings my fuhrer candidates, today is the day you have all been training for...the final test to prove yourselves. You will be fighting against a dark force today, the likes of which not a lot has had the displeasure of seeing. Whoever is the first to subdue this new enemy will get the chance of a life time..." the doctor finished, heading towards the door with Raven and Father. Father nodded at Pride as he went back inside to watch from the windows, and Pride knew right away what he was supposed to be doing now.

The sun was low, making the walls all around the courtyard cast their shadows far into the field, and Pride grinned malevolently. All the fuhrer candidates were still standing in the courtyard, looking around and waiting for something to happen. The shadows of the walls and candidates began to turn an unnatural black, and the candidates noticed this quickly enough, jumping off any shadows and into any area of pure light they could. There were about fifteen candidates, obviously only the best of all the rest were chosen for this as he would assumed there would be many more. Eyes and teeth began to form on the shadows, and the candidates could do nothing but watch as they waited still for something to happen. They had no idea what was going on, and Pride didn't intend on letting them find out.

He let one shadowy hand slowly creep forward, as all the candidates watched it intently, swords ready to strike at it. The hand turned into a spike and shot forward towards one of the candidates, who deflected it with his sword. He would start off slow...what fun would there be if he just went all out right away? Yes...he would give them a false sense of security before truly striking. Another spike from behind, another deflect via sword. Two spikes from opposite sides this time, a dodge and a deflect.

"**Are they protecting each other? No no no...this won't do. Father needs lone wolves who can operate on their own when need be, not co-dependents.**" Pride thought to himself, unsatisfied with the candidates' teamwork. He would need to split them up, to show who is truly weak and who is strong. He shot spikes out from all directions, making them turn in any fashion he could to force the group to split up, then kept them separated by attacking them individually. "**Good thing I know how to multitask...**" he thought to himself, closing his eyes in concentration as he bended the shadows to his will, attacking each candidate slow at first and picking up speed as time went by. He noticed one of the candidates seemed to be excelling more than all the rest...that one would need to be taken out quickly. All attacks ceased, before all spikes went directly towards said candidate.

"Number twelve, look out!" one of the other candidates called, before being grabbed from behind and hoisted into the air, dropping his sword to the ground and trying to let his muffled screams be heard.

"You shouldn't let your own guard down to save someone else." Pride's voice echoed from all around, his laughter seeming to come from everywhere at once. The candidate that was apparently known as "number twelve" was deflecting the shadows quite well, though still lacking in his efforts before he looked behind himself and noticed the other sword on the ground. He dodged the next set of spikes and made a run for the sword, deflecting anything else he could on the way there. He jumped over the next spike and landed in a roll, picking up the sword as he stopped. Pride was impressed with this one, though that was not enough. He looked around with the eyes of the shadows, before picking his next target, a lone candidate standing far behind everyone else watching number twelve in his efforts. Shadowy spikes then shot out from behind number twelve...flying right past him and towards the other candidate, who had not been expecting this. He was just about to hit the man...but the spikes stopped in their tracks, and Pride opened his eyes quickly to see one of the candidates charging right at his container. He jumped out of the way as a sword implanted itself in the wall where he was once lying in wait. All the other candidates looked back at the noise, noticing the other candidate attacking a boy out there they did not remember seeing.

They noted however...

That as soon as that boy started moving...

...the spikes stopped.

"**This won't be good.**" Pride thought to himself.

* * *

"Lust? I smell Pride and Father, they're very close." Gluttony interrupted Lust's thoughts, gaining her undivided attention however.

"Oh? Really? Lets see if you can take me to them then." Lust challenged him, waving Envy over. They followed Gluttony to Laboratory 5 at the edge of town, and onto the roof where they looked down in a courtyard, they saw Pride just jump out of the way of someone attacking him with a sword. "Hm, it must be time for a new fuhrer then." Lust said, taking a seat on the edge of the roof, not wanting to miss a second of this.

* * *

The doctor and Raven were watching in amazement at what was happening, never had the seen such skill with swords fighting against such an inhuman entity, it was simply astounding. Then the doctor remembered earlier when Father had held that boy back from attacking the man, and realized just how big of a mistake he had made, shuddering at the thought of what could have happened.

* * *

Pride landed, only to have to jump again to dodge another sword sweeping at his feet, when he landed he bent backwards to dodge a yet another sword stabbing at his head. He quickly brought a set of spikes over to distract the swordsmen taking advantage of his being in the open now, forcing them to deflect the shadows as he attempted to get away from them, not seeing exactly where he was going as he kept his concentration fixated on the shadows. He looked in front of himself just in time to see candidate "number twelve" charging right at him with his dual swords, and Pride tried to stop before running into those swords.

He had to fall to his knees to dodge the first swing, then roll to the side to dodge the next. He brought more shadows over to make an attack at number twelve, who simply dodged the shadows rather than get distracted by them, and kept on his frenzied assault on the small boy. Pride was trying hard to keep the other candidates at bay with the shadows, this one was enough trouble on his own. Number twelve kept his strikes true and fast, not skipping a single beat as he attempted to hit this boy with all his might, but he was just too small...too fast...

Pride kept dodging swing after swing, dragging number twelve all across the field as he swung at the boy wildly. He was messing up in his dodges a lot, sometimes landing in a stumble or just barely dodging one of the swords as he was trying hard to keep his concentration split between controlling the shadows and keeping these swords off himself. Number twelve brought a strike low at his feet, and Pride jumped up into the air, where number twelve swung his second sword, and Pride curled himself into a ball to get his legs high enough to land on top of the sword, jumping off it and doing a front flip over number twelve's head, who swung the other sword back in a blind attempt to hit the boy, but that only gave him something closer to land on before jumping off the sword once again and away from number twelve, where his shadows came in between the two quickly to protect their master from any further onslaughts.

Pride had to take a second to recover as his shadows gave him some time...he was not used to doing such tricks, nor did he think he would ever need to learn them when he did long ago. He saw another candidate come charging at him, and shot a shadow straight through his torso this time. Pride was done toying with these men, he could see now they were actually of some danger, therefore he would treat them accordingly...

The one he was still holding in the air was dropped to the ground, and quickly taken care of as soon as he landed. Pride turned around to look at the other candidates, all charging at him now, including number twelve, the only one still wielding two swords. Shadowy spikes shot out from under Pride's feet, a deep scowl on his face from almost being had by a _human_, of all things. All but one candidate successfully deflected the spikes, as he dropped to the ground, number twelve picked up his sword as well as he ran by the body, holding it upside down in his left hand with the other sword he was holding right side up, now wielding three swords. A circle of shadowy tendrils came up around Pride, deflecting sword swings effortlessly to protect it's controller. Number twelve came into the fray and jumped right over Pride, running to the body of the other dead candidate to get a hold of his sword as well, fitting it into his right hand upside down with the other right side up sword, as he now wielded 4 swords.

"_ENOUGH!_" Pride's voice boomed, as his tendrils did a sweeping saw blade motion, killing three more candidates while the others jumped far back away from him. That didn't stop number twelve however, as he began to charge in, but not to get a swing at Pride yet...only to grab yet another sword...this time in his mouth as he rolled away from the giant shadow spike that came crashing down where he was but a second ago. Number twelve was now wielding five swords, and even Pride was taken aback by this action which he had never seen anyone even attempt before.

* * *

General Raven and the doctor were both staring in awe at number twelve, even the doctor had not seen any of his candidates try something as crazy as this before.

It was right then that Father knew exactly who was going to hold his anger.

His Fury.

His...

"Wrath."

* * *

**_End Chapter_**

Well I don't know about you all but I definitely had fun with this chapter.

_R&R!_


	8. Chapter 8: Even the proud feel pain

Disclaimer: I own no FMA, or there would be A LOT more episodes

_**Even the proud feel pain  
**_

Hours had passed, hours of endless fighting, neither of the two getting touched by the other. The other candidates were either dead now or had just given up as they watched the fight between the infamous number twelve and Pride. Pride was never meant to have anger in himself...but when he's getting out matched by a lowly human...that's when his dignity is brought into question, and he would _not_ allow that.

It was night time by now, the only form of lights being the lamps spread across the walls of the courtyard. Number twelve was still holding his five swords, and Pride had no idea how to fight such a fool-hardy act. Number twelve charged at him again, and Pride sent shadowy spikes towards his feet, which he jumped over to continue his charge towards the boy. Pride waited for him to get into the next light source, he sent hands this time, attempting to disarm the man, but they were all promptly deflected.

Pride had had enough now, it was time to end this. When number twelve came into the next light source he encased him in a shadowed cocoon, and Pride could hear the swords striking against it inside. Pride's tensed body seemed to relax now, as his face of anger turned into that of a smile. He began making the cocoon smaller, smaller, and still smaller. That's when General Raven came out and clapped his hands.

"Very good! Go ahead and release him Pride, I belie-" Raven was cut off as he was picked up by the shadows, covering his mouth.

"Let him go? No, dear Raven, you misunderstand. This stopped being a test hours ago, he is going to _die now._" Pride retorted, still making the cocoon smaller inch by inch. The doctor came out this time, flabbergasted by what was happening.

"Pride? What are you doi-" he too was hoisted upwards and silenced. The cocoon was now far smaller than when it began, number twelve would have to be crouching down not get crushed.

"_PRIDE!_" Father's voice boomed, and all shadows disappeared instantly, the cocoon was gone, Raven and the doctor were both dropped and even the shadows surrounding Pride had disappeared. He had forgotten he was here with Father...

"Father..I..I-I j-just.." Pride stuttered, looking back at the freed candidate who was on the ground, relieved he was not crushed to death. Father glared intently at Pride, and Pride understood he was going to get punished later. He walked back to Father's side with his head hung low, he turned back and gave one final glare at candidate number twelve before going inside.

* * *

Lust was watching, awe stricken yet smiling at the scene before her. She knew Pride had been in trouble before but she had never actually _seen _him be in trouble. She didn't dare want to miss this, so she jumped down and snuck inside before anyone else could see her.

Pride was watching the scientists work, showing no interest in them at all, until he felt a familiar spear-like object poke his back. He turned around quickly and saw Lust smirking at him, to his great dismay. He pointed at the door, and mouthed the words _"GET OUT!"_, but only saw her shake her head slowly. The shadows began to move when Father made his way inside, and Pride froze instantly.

"Lust? When did you get here?" Father asked, surprised to see her.

"Oh, I wanted to see if Gluttony could really track scents, and he said he smelled you and Pride nearby so I asked if he could lead me to you two. I came in earlier when Pride was fighting those men." she answered, and looked behind Father as the doctor and Raven ran inside, carrying candidate number twelve.

"Stop! Stop! I just want to eat you!" Gluttony yelled as he came bounding in after the three, only to be grabbed at the door by Pride's shadows.

"If I'm not allowed to have the pleasure of killing them you're not allowed the pleasure of eating them." Pride froze again when he realized he had said that out loud, and slowly looked at Father glaring at him. Pride shrunk inwardly, knowing full well he was not to harm these humans. "...Forgive me, Father, I don't know what has come over me today." Pride attempted, backing away slowly and sitting in a corner, though Lust watched on, amused at seeing Pride so helpless for once. The scientists, were watching on in confusion, though they didn't seem too concerned at the moment, almost as if they had seen stranger things. The doctor and Raven were putting number twelve on a stone table, restraining his arms and legs now.

"Wha...what's going on?" the candidate asked, seeming to just wake up from his near death experience.

"Number twelve...I always had a good feeling about you..." the doctor mused as he worked on the straps, "...you are either going to become very _very _powerful and important, or very _very _dead." this caught the candidate's attention fast, and he began fighting against his restraints, obviously not wanting to die. But the doctor just smiled his crooked smile and pulled out a syringe filled with a glowing reddish pink substance, cleaning the tip of it and marking a spot on the candidate's arm for a vein. Father and Raven were gathered around the table now, Lust was watching from afar with Gluttony and Pride was still sitting in the corner, not wanting to get into anymore trouble than he already was.

The doctor injected the syringe's contents into the candidate's vein, and the candidate laid still for a moment. Nothing seemed to be happening...until he screamed out in pain and began shaking violently. This caught the attention of everyone in the room, their gazes shooting towards the table. Pride stood up, and slowly began making his way towards the table, but Father shot a glare at him, and Pride quickly backed away into his corner and sat again.

The alchemical lights showered the candidate, his body breaking and reanimating itself over and over again, his fitful screams of pain. It finally ended, and the candidate laid still upon the bed, his eyes closed. A moment later they reopened, and he glared into space.

"Welcome to the world my youngest sin, Wrath." Father welcomed him. Pride glared.

"My greatest creation, a perfect homunculi." the doctor added. Pride clenched his fists.

"Our greatest tool," Raven added. Pride gritted his teeth.

"And most dangerous weapon." Father finished. Pride shut his eyes as tight as he could, trying not to do anything rash. He made his way towards the door, practically stomping with every step he took and went outside. He just needed some air, that was all. The chemicals in that lab must have been messing with his head or something.

"You shouldn't feel jealous or anything, you'll always be Father's favorite." he heard Lust say, and turned around to see her partly sitting on Gluttony's shoulder.

"I'm _not _jealous, don't put me on Envy's level. I don't feel jealousy...I don't feel anger...I don't..feel..."

"Replaced? Hurt? Sad that Father is coddling over someone other than you? Don't kid yourself, I've seen this happen a million times before in human society, the love for the eldest child is always replaced by the last of the youngest."

"Don't impose human logic onto us homunculi, Lust!" Pride ordered her, refusing to look in her direction.

"You know it's true, or else you would look at me, Pride." Lust challenged, watching him intently.

"_SHUT UP!_" Pride yelled, looking back at her now. She could see his lip quivering and a single tear roll down his face. Lust watched him for a moment before standing up straight and making her way out of the courtyard.

"If you need someone to talk to, my ears are always open." she pulled Gluttony along with her, going back inside. Pride looked at the window, inside he could see Father helping Wrath stand up, helping him walk again.

Pride remembered when Father helped him walk too...

* * *

**_End Chapter_**

Yar. R&R!****


	9. Chapter 9:You can't replace the arrogant

Disclaimer: I own no FMA, or I would be in Japan

_**You can't replace the arrogant  
**_

Several weeks had passed since the youngest sin had come. Lust, Gluttony and Envy were off doing their jobs as usual, Sloth was off digging the transmutation circle, no one knew were Greed was at this moment, Wrath was enlisted in the military now, stationed down in Aerugo currently. Pride however was still was Father, watching him work everyday, waiting for Father to give him some sign of forgiveness. Father had not yet punished Pride, not to his knowledge anyways, and Pride was hoping he had just forgotten about it or is showing him mercy. However whenever he tried to speak to Father, Father would act as if he wasn't even there. Wrath came walking into the room in his soldier's uniform, neither of the two realizing that he was supposed to be back today.

"Wrath, you're back already? Do you have any news for me?" Father asked, a little surprised at Wrath's presence. Pride watched the two from his corner of the room. He could see the two conversing, but could not hear them as Wrath was much closer to Father now, so they did not need to speak as loud as when he first came in. He glowered at Wrath, watching him speak on, seeing his mouth move but knowing not the words coming out. He couldn't stand the thought of being..._replaced._ Lust would never lie to him though, he never knew her to be wrong either. Pride clenched his fists and stood up, he wanted to kill Wrath so badly but, that can't be good for Father's plan. He saw Father smiling at Wrath now...Father never smiled at Pride anymore...He glared.

Father put his hand on Wrath's shoulder...Father never touched Pride anymore...He clenched his fists harder.

He saw Father mouth the words "Good job."...Father never told Pride "Good job." anymore...He gritted his teeth. He watched Wrath leave the room, and Father go back to reading, so Pride left the same was as Wrath did.

* * *

"You..." Wrath stopped, that voice sounded familiar. "...You...stupid _fool_." Wrath turned around, and saw Pride round the corner far behind him, a look of death in his eyes.

"Pride? Is there something you need?" Wrath questioned, confusion laced into his voice. Pride looked away and closed his eyes tight, he couldn't cry now, he couldn't show weakness.

"_How dare you_ come into _my _home and try to replace _me_. Do you have any idea how hard I work? Do you have _any _idea how hard I try to keep this place under control for Father?" Envy walked to the edge of the corner, hearing Pride's voice. Who was he talking to? "I work tirelessly and do my very best for Father, and you think you can just swoop in and take away everything I've worked for?" The shadows around the sewer were moving now, the chimeras above and rats below scurrying away fast. "No...no no _NO_! I will _NOT _be replaced. I will _NOT _be ignored. _I WILL NOT GO WITHOUT A FIGHT!_" Pride yelled, the entire sewer shaking now, the shadows growing eyes and teeth. They lashed out towards Wrath relentlessly who only had enough time to pull out his sword and begin running for his life. He ran directly past Envy who watched him in confusion, before turning to see millions of shadowy spikes turn the corner and fly towards him.

* * *

"FATHERRRRR!" Father heard Envy's panicked yelling, and got up immediately to begin his way down the sewer.

* * *

Wrath and Envy were both running hard, Envy in front and Wrath following closely behind.

"Why are you following me? Go away! He's after you!" Envy yelled at him, trying to run faster to lose Wrath.

"I don't know where I'm going, and I thought if you were in the way he wouldn't kill me." Wrath answered, keeping up with Envy effortlessly.

"No! He'll just kill me _with _you, I make him kill me enough on my own, I don't need your help!" Envy told him, seeing the spikes closing in on them. They both turned the corner to meet another wall of spikes coming towards them, both coming to close in on them fast. Wrath was at a loss, he could see no way of escaping this at all, so he stared at the ground and waited for his fate...

But fate seemed to take quite a long time, so he looked back up to see all the spikes were gone, though he could hear Pride scream at the top of his lungs.

"_WRAAAAAAAAAAAAAATH!_" Pride screamed, and he hoped to god that the boy wasn't talking about him.

* * *

Wrath and Envy entered Father's lair to see Father standing over Pride, whom was strapped to a table and wearing only a pair of boxers, struggling hard against his restraints. His head shot upwards, and he glared deeply at Wrath, the sight of the man making the boy pull harder.

"Pride, _enough_." Pride seemed to settle down some, but did not stop trying to break free. Lust and Gluttony came in and walked past Envy and Wrath.

"What happened to Pride?" she asked, walking over to the boy to inspect him.

"I will-" Pride began, but was cut short by another restraint being added on him, this time over his mouth to keep his head down.

"Pride doesn't seem to want to get along with Wrath right now, so he's going to sit here for awhile and think about his actions until he decides to behave. His powers will be disabled until then as well." Father informed her, and she looked down into Pride's eyes, seeing a deep seething hatred flare through them as he tried his best to glared over at Wrath. She looked over at the confused man, and saw why Pride was so angry now.

"Wrath, maybe you should leave for now, don't you have something you should be doing?" she told him, and it took him a moment to realize that he was the issue here, so he quickly made his way out. When Wrath was gone Pride calmed down greatly, and even stopped struggling against his restraints.

"You're disappointing me, Pride." Father began, that made the boy freeze completely and his eyes widen. "I would expect better behavior from my eldest, however you're acting like a child right now, and we both know your intelligence is far beyond that of a child. You are still greatly useful to me, so I won't get rid of you, however as long as you're going to act like a hindrance, I'm going to treat you like one."

Father walked away with that last sentence, all the other homunculi watching Pride lay there unmoving for a moment before going on their ways.

* * *

About a month had passed with Pride still restrained on the table, every night Lust would loosen his restraints some and put a cover over him so he would be more comfortable, and every morning Envy would tighten the restraints and hide the cover so Father would not know they were helping him. The only sign of life he would show would be the moving of his eyes to watch the two when they helped him. Father finally came over to Pride, and undid the boy's restraints right as Wrath walked into the room. Wrath saw Pride sitting up and attempted to back out of the room.

"Wrath, come here." Father told him, and Wrath stopped before slowly making his way towards the two. Wrath stopped behind Father, not wanting to let Pride see him and the boy seemed preoccupied at rubbing his wrists and ankles. Father stepped out of the way in order to let Pride see Wrath, however the boy didn't seem to notice him at all as he stared forward into space. There was only one word going through his head right now..._Hindrance._ Pride looked over at Wrath, and the man braced himself for whatever would come, but Pride switched his view to Father.

"Father...am..am I really a hindrance to you?" Pride asked, fighting back the urge to cry as he talked.

"That depends, I'm going to give you a choice. You have your powers back for now, so decide. Do you want to kill Wrath or not?" Pride thought about this, he still wanted to kill Wrath, but he didn't want to be a problem for Father.

"N..n-no, Father, I do not." Pride answered, jumping off the table and staring up at Wrath.

"Very good, then you are not a hindrance after all. It's good that you don't want to harm him either, because you're both going to be spending a lot of time together for the next few years." Father told them.

Pride stared up at Wrath, and Wrath down at Pride. One showed weakness, fright, the other showed no emotion. "Very well, Father, I will go get dressed then." Pride told him, and gave a slight nod at Wrath before walking towards his room. Wrath only stared at the back of the boy in horror, he didn't trust Pride's words of not wanting to harm him yet, and felt that when they were next alone he wouldn't be alive for very long.

* * *

**_End Chapter_**

Wondering wondering what should I do with these two...R&R!****


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